In the Company of Death
by otankun
Summary: A Blood Angel over come by the Red Thirst has one last chance to die with honor in the Chapter's Death Company. However, when in the company of the dead, the enemy is the least of your concerns.


_I have been here before, yet I don't know this place. The halls of this once proud battlebarge have become twisted into something indescribable. I close my eyes and shake my head, hoping it is some hallucination after-affect of teleportation. My vision refocuses and I see bulkheads made out bone that have smears of blood and sinew still attached. Banners of past noble deeds have been taken down and replaced with tapestries of withering maggots on canvases of flayed skin._

 _What has become of my brother?_

 _I must find him!_

 _He is this way…_

Wait!

That's not the way.

I shake my head again and the rush of battle comes back, assaulting my sense. I can feel the heat of fire and the taste of smoke all around me. Grunted war cries are answered by screams of rage over the clash of close combat weapons. My own chainsword is in my right hand, dripping with green blood and gore. I look down and see the corpse of an Ork at my feet. Part of its neck has been ripped out as if by a large animal. I then notice the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.

Did I do that?

I realize my left hand is empty as I bring it to my lips. I must have lost my bolt pistol somewhere.

This is when I notice that my wargear is different. It is the same armor and weapons I have used in a hundred battles, but they are now painted black with crimson slashes.

My memories return and I remember that I am now in the company of the dead. This is Hades and I have come here to die.

"Brother Calistarius!" A familiar voice calls out.

It is the Chaplain calling to me through his death skull helmet. He is urging me into the ruins of this chapel with swipes from his Crozius Arcanum. The Chaplain's badge of office is a mighty power maul that can easily crush even the large skull of an Ork with a single blow. Blue energy crackles around the head that has been rendered into the visage of a holy angle.

I quickly obey his command and rejoin the rest of the Death Company.

It is the Second War for Armageddon. The Ork Warboss Ghazghkull has brought the greenskins once more to the world of Armageddon. Warp storms have prevented reinforcements from arriving any sooner. My Astartes Chapter, the Blood Angels, is part of the relief force. We must not allow the Orks to take this world.

 _It is the Battle of Terra. The Warmaster Horus Lupercal, my brother, has brought his army of traitors to Terra. Warp storms have prevented all communications regarding reinforcements. My Legion Astartes, the Blood Angels, are part of the defending force. We must not allow the heretics to take this world._

Focus!

Remember your Librarium training. You control it, it does not control you.

I am…

… _Defending the Imperial Palace._

Currently on my way to Hades Hive in the North to relieve the defenders that have managed to hold out against all odds. Before our departure, I found myself craving the taste of fresh blood and knew, even before I was told, that I had the signs of the Red Thirst. That is the name given to the dreaded genetic flaw in all those that carry the blood of Primarch Sanguinius. I now experience his memories of those final days at the Battle of Terra as well as his rage and hated. I was then placed into the Death Company, along with others like me, in the hopes that we will die quickly in battle with honor. That is the end I choose rather then slowly going mad, begging for death.

I am in a Rhino Armored Troop Carrier, painted in the same black with red slashes livery as my armor now is. It is no longer the lightening blue of a Librarian. The vehicle is en route to the Ecclesiarchy building where the worst of the fighting is.

Good.

I know that is where…

… _Death awaits me._

I look around at the others in the Rhino with me. There are nine of us in total, including the Chaplain leading us. I am one of the more fortunate that has been able to stay relatively calm. I still feel the Angel's wrath burning throughout my veins, but my psycher training has taught me to stay focused under extreme stress. Most of the others are not as fortunate. Some have gotten so uncontrollable that the Chaplain has powered down their armor so they cannot move. Not that it has stopped them from trying. Others still, ramble on about holding the Eternity Gate of the Imperial Palace or boarding Horus' battlebarge the _Vengeful Spirit_.

The brother sitting across from me unnerves me the most. All he has done in the hours we've been traveling is scrape his right gauntlet across the pummel if his power sword exactly seven times and then say, what are your orders? I thought he was talking to the Chaplain at first, but his eyes are looking up at something only he can see.

"One minute!" The Chaplain calls out to us.

I start to rise as much as the low ceiling of the vehicle allows me when I am violently shoved back into my seat. The brother across from me has reached over and pushed me back down by my left pauldron. He is also intently staring right down at me.

"The only way to beat death is to surrender to it." He says. His voice is different somehow. Almost as if it is not completely his own.

Before I can ask him what he means, the doors of the troop carrier burst open and he charges out with the rest of the Death Company.

 _Hundreds charge the Eternity Gate in a wild effort to breach the inner Palace. Some are World Eaters, some are monsters conjured from the warp, and others are traitor Imperial Army. All look as if they have been summoned from Hell._

 _The Adaptus Custodes and my own Blood Angels are falling back through the gate. I must hold it until they are all through._

The fighting in the Chapel has become the crux of the battle for Hades Hive. If we do not break the Orks here, then the entire relief effort maybe for not. Such thoughts are far from my mind. The wrath of the Angel is fully upon me and all that concerns me is death.

 _All sense of discipline and order has left those that once served the Emperor._

All sense of order and discipline has left those of the Death Company.

They are a charging mass of…

…blades, armor, and guns.

There is no skill or technique…

…in our attack.

Just a maelstrom of…

…clashing weapons and dieing screams.

 _Slash._

Punch.

Bite.

 _Stab._

Rip.

 _Kick._

KILL!

KILL!

A particularly large Ork jumps out at me, armed with a power axe. I manage to side step the attack as the creature brings its weapon down in a mighty blow that would have split me in two. It brings the weapon back up to face me. The greenskin wields its weapon in both hand connected to muscled arms the size of my thighs.

 _A large creature suddenly jumps out at me in the air. It is easily four meters tall with huge bat-like wings, a bovine head, and horns. Rushing me while I was momentarily distracted, it knocks me to the ground at the base of the Eternity Gate. It is armed with a large battle-axe in its left hand and a barbed whip in the other._

 _I know this creature and I recognize its weapons._

The greenskin and I clash head on. All seems to fade away around me as I continue to fight this massive beast. I would normally use skill to out maneuver the creature and create an opening, but that is forgotten in my desire for blood. Instead I unleash a barrage of vicious swings with my chainsword. I manage to tear some wounds into the Ork's hide, but they have little affect on it.

A wide, one-handed, swipe from power axe manages to sunder my chainsword. The Ork grunts in amusement as it thinks the battle is won. Without thinking, I toss my weapon aside and lunge at the arm holding the axe. I bite down hard on the meat of the greenskin's arm, driving fangs in as deep as I can. I tear a hunk of flesh loose, causing the Ork to drop the axe. It howls in pain as it stumbles back, utterly surprised by my choice of attack.

 _The Daemon dives down at me from above to press its attack. I am ready for it this time. I side step the creature's first attack and sever its left hand at the wrist with skillful swing of my sword. It jumps back, landing easily on its cloven feet, and lashes out with its whip. I snatch the ends of it with my left hand and give the cord a mighty yank. The Daemon is caught off guard and comes flying towards me._

I use my psychic power to create a telekine force behind the Ork and push it back towards me. I strike the greenskin hard in the face with my gauntlet, stunning the creature.

 _I catch the Daemon in one hand by the neck and crush it's throat. Dropping the whip, I grab the creature's lower body and raise it's entire body above my head._

I bend one knee and hoist the Ork's entire body above my head with a strength I never knew I had.

 _Then break the things back across my knee with a brutal crack._

Then break the things back across my knee with a brutal crack.

A sound brings me back to my sense. I realize what it is as tons of metal and rockrete collapse on top of me.

" _You are dead!" Horus declares. My brother easily parries my sword aside, which creates an opening. I see the fatal blow coming, but I am too slow to avoid it. I try to dodge it nonetheless, but his lightening claws catch me and I am impaled through the chest. I look down and see blood flowing out of my golden armor._

"NO!" I scream. "I AM NOT DEAD!"

I have given up trying to tell how long I have been trapped under the rubble.

I cannot get out.

I want blood!

I want it so badly I scream like a man possessed. I struggle again to free myself even though I know it to be useless. I have tried many times before and it does nothing. By all accounts I should be dead, yet it seems I am fated to die slowly like this. The only way I have managed to hold on is to focus on staying sane.

" _You are dead!" Horus declares. My brother easily parries my sword aside, which creates an opening. I see the fatal blow coming, but I am too slow to avoid it. I try to dodge it nonetheless, but his lightening claws catch me and I am impaled through the chest. I look down and see blood flowing out of my golden armor._

"I am not dead! I am not dead!" I yell again to no one in particular.

This latest round of thrashing manages to shake something loose. An old book falls from somewhere and lands near me open. Its pages flutter for a moment then settle to reveal a picture crudely drawn on one page. I can only guess the figure is suppose to be some evil being for great length was taken to make him look sinister.

Why else would he have a high collar that goes up and around the back and peripheral of his head?

I'd never want to look like that.

There is writing on the adjoining page, but I cannot read it.

 _I can read it._

 _It recounts the legend of some forgotten devil that ruled the underworld. This being would use lies, false prophecies, and dark magic to lead humans away from the righteous path. I cannot make out his name. Mephi-something._

This place is properly named. Where else would you find the lord of the underworld, but Hades?

" _You are dead!" Horus declares. My brother easily parries my sword aside, which creates an opening. I see the fatal blow coming, but I am too slow to avoid it. I try to dodge it nonetheless, but his lightening claws catch me and I am impaled through the chest. I look down and see blood flowing out of my golden armor._

I came here seeking death, but instead ended up facing the Devil over and over.

 _The only way to beat death is to submit to it._

What did you say?

What does that mean?

What are you trying to tell me?

Say something!

" _You are dead!" Horus declares. My brother easily parries my sword aside, which creates an opening. I see the fatal blow coming, but I am too slow to avoid it. I try to dodge it nonetheless, but his lightening claws catch me and I am impaled through the chest. I look down and see blood flowing out of my golden armor._

Is that the answer?

If that is what you want from me, then I will gladly do it.

"For Lord Sanguinius." I whisper as I close my eyes.

" _You are dead!" Horus declares. My brother easily parries my sword aside, which creates an opening. I see the fatal blow coming, but I am too slow to avoid it._

I do no try to dodge it, but instead step into it. The lightening claws impale me through the chest. I look down and see blood flowing out of my lightening blue armor. I look into the face of the only devil I have ever known and tell him, "No. I am death!"

" _Thank you, my son." I say to Brother Calistarius. With a powerful thrust I drive my blood red sword into the bottom of my brother's chin and out the back of his head. The figure of Horus Lupercal quickly dissolves into a pool of black ichor and disappears._

" _You may rest now Calistarius. Be at peace with the Emperor."_

Many have fallen this day and as Chaplain it is my duty to ensure their souls are with the God-Emperor. I perform final rites over the bodies of the fallen as the Sanguinary Priests do their duty of removing the gene-seed from the dead. I regret that we were not able recover the bodies of the Death Company that were caught inside the Chapel when it collapsed seven days ago. I can only pray that they found peace at the end.

"Chaplain!" A brother calls out. I turn away from my duties to see him pointing out into the darkness.

There is someone out there.

How can that be?

The only things among the rubble are the dead and some remaining Orks. The figure comes walking out of the gloom like a creature of the night.

I have seen this brother before, yet I do not recognize him. He is taller, not just in height, but in presence as well. Even a Space Marine would be badly injured coming out of that, but his flesh is perfect and unscathed. He drops something from his right hand, which I can now see is the fresh heart of an Ork.

"Brother Calistarius?" I ask. Not certain myself.

"Brother Calistarius is no more." The man replies. "I am Mephiston. Lord of Death!"


End file.
